Wednesday, August 4, 2010

This blog--Purpose

Hmmm...Maybe I needed to get these things out there for all to read. No...actually, I decided that I'd give blogging a real try--something more than the basic creative name, add a picture, post something quippy, and never look at it again.

I was trained a couple of weeks ago on a new approach to teaching reading and writing. The collective approach pulls together several different reading strategies that are meant to engage students at levels of metacognition beyond what they're currently experiencing. My district's state scores came back and we were very successful. With this new approach, we hope to push our students beyond. More than meeting the standard, we want our students to exceed. I believe this is possible. This approach allows for various instructional styles and teacher diversity--actually, I believe it encourages outside of the box thinking. I also believe that it will move our students to levels beyond those measured by state testing.

I'm excited by the possibilities! It poses a few questions that I've yet to figure out, but it's these challenges that push me forward--seeking answers.

With a lot of work and a little luck, this program will prove greatly beneficial to my students--encouraging their own curiosity to seek answers to their own questions.

Here's an article I found recently that discusses the importance of kindergarten to potential success in adulthood. It's very decent. There are links throughout the text that add slides of data collected and presentation notes. It needs to be peer-reviewed, but is a good read regardless.